"The stage was very hard and until we get to the dunes was quite impossible to attempt any overtaking, as there was immense dust. In the Nihuil gray dunes I lost some time helping Javier who had fallen"

The Chilean rider Francisco Lopez finished second Monday in Stage 2 of the Dakar Rally ' Argentina -Chile- Bolivia 2014 ', which included a [special] of 433kms between San Luis and San Rafael.

In a fast stage, which had the first dunes, the native Teno [Chile] biker with [growth] to get the second best time of the day, with a time of three hours, 42 minutes and 49 seconds.

' Chaleco' was only surpassed in this new Argentine stage by British Sam Sunderland, who set a time of 3h42'10 ", reaching the goal 39 seconds before Lopez. The third place went to Joan Barreda of Spain, two minutes behind the winner.

After the second stage, the best national credit to the bike category is now [runner-up] of the overall standings, two minutes and three seconds behind the leader, Barreda.

On the other hand, the favorite Marc Coma and Cyril Despres had a modest performance on the stage today to face problems during the [special]. The Spaniard was fifth and French Champion, eighth overall.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8340SU

Faria:

'It was a day with many changes. We started at high speed, then areas of stone and more meandering route and also fulfill the first kilometers in the sand, passing by the beautiful gray dunes. I already knew it would be a day where it was important to somehow take a strategic position: attacking in the early stage and then relax in the area of sand, where I could also gain some time to a few adversaries. '

'It was a positive day in that chapter and puts me in a good starting position for tomorrow where we meet a long special, with almost 400 kilometers and where we will climb to more than 4 000 meters of altitude. It will also be the first half of a marathon stage so it will be important to manage the wear of the bike. '

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8340SU

Team Manager Alex Doringer said he was happy to have his riders in safely and said Stage Two had been a good result for Ruben and Villadoms.

"Grabham had a fantastic ride and Riaan is improving every day," he said. Speaking of the marathon stage, Doringer added: "It will be tricky. It will be very rough on riders and bikes and we'll know more after the first stage of the marathon. The guys will have to use their brains, not go flat out and think about how they can take care of their bikes and manage the second stage of the marathon."

More new comments:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8340SU

Sam Sunderland - 1st - 3:42'10 - TEAM HRC
I’m really happy. The bike was fantastic, it’s been a great day with a mixture of different terrains, speed and technical zones. We got to the dunes which I get on really well with. It wasn’t a really long stretch, but it went well. I crossed the river which was deeper than I had expected, which got a few laughs out of the folk. But I’m really pleased for my first Dakar victory and to continue Honda’s winning streak.

Joan Barreda - 3rd - +02'00 - TEAM HRCI knew that it was going to be a day to be on the look-out for animals. When I was about 70 km away from the finish-line, with the big hazards out of the way and the navigation through the dunes completed, I crossed a river with low-visibility and came across a cow on the curve. I tried to avoid it, but it came running out and I ran into it. It wasn’t a great impact, but it broke the higher part of the navigation, and I had to work the roadbook manually. The first part was really speedy and I was opening a gap over the rivals. From kilometre 250 to 300 I had to stay really focused, which I’m very happy with.

Paulo Goncalves - 8th - +07'45 - TEAM HRC
It was a really hard day’s rally. I had a couple of issues with the gas in the dunes and I lost a bit of time. It could have been a better day, but what the heck... I managed to finish and that’s the most important thing. Tomorrow we start out from good positions so the fight will go on.

Javier Pizzolito - 21th - +21'22 - TEAM HRC
It was a beautiful stage, with a lot of kilometres and much dust. I went off with Hélder, and tried to push hard. I made a slight navigational error and I fell, which was worse for the bike than for me, as I’m fine. It could have gone better for me today, but considering I made it, I’m happy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluebull2007

Well spotted

They have issued the results for the day with only 140 bikes on that list.

1) The top 10 riders are all within 10 minutes of each other.
2) The top 23 riders are all within 30 minutes of each other.
3) the aliens are separates by a mere 1:23
4) Gonclaves and Faria are between Coma and Despres. This is interesting to me because they are also consistently good, albeit not as much as the aliens.
5) There are 4 makes of bike in the top five. Honda 2, Ktm 2 and Sherco 1
6) There are five makes in the top 10, dominated by KTM and Honda. All five makes appear again in the top 20.
7) Only 8 riders seem to be left in the malle moto class, from 15 yesterday.

Ben Grabham is the top newcomer in 9nth overall. This is outstanding given the closeness of the field this year.

Laia Sanz is 27th overall, also outstanding and the highest she has been if I am not mistaken

David Reeve is 32nd, but 2nd in the Production Class!

Robert van Pelt 42nd held his first position in malle moto class
Brett Cummings now 53rd held his position as 2nd in the Malle moto after a tough day. Just 16 minutes separate these two.

Go Brett GO

Quote:

Originally Posted by 8340SU

Quiet a massacre for a day 2:

It's almost 22h local time and we got in:

148 of 173 bikes
88 of 147 cars
39 of 70 trucks

Quote:

Originally Posted by beechum1

RTVE, Villadoms, 14:15
I'm very happy how the stage went, I have to improve a few things but, little by little improving....
what things,
I can't say....
About the bike?
No, the rider.

.

__________________Dreaming of Dakar
-Everyone has a max speed, 90% of that max speed is much safer and easier, and if that 90% speed isn't fast enough at Dakar, you enter the snowball. - neduro